The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500-3500 BC. Myths and Cult Images, 2007, nvlle éd. rev., 304 p., 252 ill. -

The long-accepted view that the peoples who inhabited southeast Europe in earliest times derived the themes underlying their art and imagery, and the basic elements of their religion, from the Near East has been increasingly invalidated. In this scientific breakthrough, which Professor Colin Renfrew described as a 'pioneer work' and which has become a classic, Professor Gimbutas substantiates her important thesis of the development in 'Old Europe' of a systematic conception and pantheon of goddesses during the Upper Palaeolithic – a tradition that was carried into Neolithic times and beyond.